Question
Hi - I live outside of Chicago and recently moved into a new home.  It was built 4 or 5 years ago and my lawn doesn't drain well.  When digging in the flower beds around the house I noticed alot of clay and I'm guessing the builder didn't do a great job of redistributing top soil before planting the lawn.  Short of tearing up the entire lawn is there anything I can do to help drainage?  I've heard spreading a thin layer of cotton burr compost may help break up the clay or possibly aerating the lawn.  Or am I just out of luck?  Thanks for the help.

Answer
Hi Jim, Clay is not bad, it just packs down and drains slowly.  Yards should be sloped to drain surface water off.  Any standing water because of a low area can either be collected in a drain and taken by underground pipes to another area or clay can be added to fill the depression to encourage natural runoff.  If you are getting poor root development in your lawn, then spreading a layer of compost over the yard and then either tilling or aerating will improve root development but not significantly change your drainage.  Spreading compost on top will not help your problem.
In flower beds, you should be mixing compost with your soil whenever you plant.  Since you have clay, plant high, so the rootball is above the soil line to help drainage during wet times.
Grass doesn't like standing water.  But if it's not standing in water a couple hours after a rain, then aerating will improve your grass.  Check you pH also.  The key to growing a good lawn is keeping the pH around 6.5.  Jim